The Last To Know
by ennaxxor
Summary: Penny reacts to the news of Bernadette and Howard's engagement. Set directly after The Herb Garden Germination, slight Leonard/Penny.


**Disclaimer:** If I owned Big Bang Theory, Priya wouldn't exist.

**A/N:** This has been sitting on my computer since April, and I finally gave it the last few edits it needed. Hope you enjoy!**  
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><p>Penny has barely finished sending off a frantic text to Leonard - <em>Sheldon got Amy pregnant <em>- when her phone rings. She answers immediately without checking to see who it is.

"Did you get my text?" she asks, eager to hear Leonard's response to this new piece of news.

"Um, no, I was about to ask you the same question," a distinctly high, female voice responds. Penny's confused for a split second before she remembers the text she'd received right before Amy's visit.

"Bernadette!" she squeals, Amy and Sheldon momentarily forgotten. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks!" Penny can practically hear her smile. "Sorry I didn't tell you sooner. We were, well, celebrating all night."

"So what's the story?" Penny settles in on her couch. "How did he ask? When? Where? Oh God, please don't say it was at the Cheesecake Factory again."

"No, it was - it was at Leonard and Sheldon's, actually." She suddenly sounds nervous. "We were over there for dinner last night."

"Oh." Obviously Penny hadn't gotten that invitation. Last night she'd eaten leftovers from the restaurant, for the third night in the row, and watched reruns of The Bachelor. "Uh, who else was there?"

"Priya," Bernadette says, reading between the lines of Penny's real question. "Raj and Amy, too."

"Sounds - sounds fun." She feels her throat tighten and stands to get some water from the kitchen. "So how'd he ask?"

"Well out of the blue he said he had something to ask me, and he couldn't think of a better time… um, than when - when his friends were there," (she sounds nervous again), "And then he got down on one knee, and I just told him yes!"

"I'm so happy for you!" Penny says, meaning it. "You'll have to show me the ring soon!"

"It's beautiful." She pauses, and then her voice is soft when she continues. "I really wish you could have been there too, Penny."

Penny shrugs, even though she knows Bernadette can't see it.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I was there for the first proposal, remember?" Her joke falls flat even to her own ears.

"But you're the one who introduced us," Bernadette presses. "It's really thanks to you that we're together."

"It was Leonard who asked me to set Howard up," Penny counters, not exactly sure why she's arguing. For a moment her mind flashes back - the two of them in her bed when he told her about his agreement with Howard, sharing amused glances during that first double date - but she pushes those memories aside. She's learned a long time ago that nothing good ever comes from dwelling on the past.

"Just the same, I feel like I owe you."

"No, _I _owe _you_," Penny insists. "Do you know how long I'd been putting up with Howard's pick-up lines?"

Bernadette laughs.

"He is a persistent one, isn't he?"

"And he's got good taste. Congratulations, again."

"Thank you! I've got some other people to call right now, but I'll see you at work tonight?"

"Definitely, see you then."

Penny snaps her phone shut. Bernadette and Howard. Engaged. Considering the vibe she'd gotten the last time she talked to Bernadette about him, she's a little confused, but Bernadette sounded so happy just now she didn't want to bring it up. Plus her confusion is currently being overshadowed by another feeling.

Because despite what she'd said on the phone, she does feel partially responsible for introducing Bernadette to Howard. Which was why it's killing her now that apparently she was the only one who missed out on the proposal.

She knows it wasn't an intentional slight. Bernadette had no control over the matter, and it wasn't Howard's fault that Penny was no longer welcome at 4A. But that doesn't keep it from stinging just the same.

Suddenly she finds herself angry at Leonard. Angry at him for not standing up to Priya. For not defending Penny, for explaining that she wasn't just an ex, but first and foremost a friend, to him and the rest of the guys. For not chasing after her when she'd told him goodbye in the lobby. For not running after her at the bowling alley.

From through her open door she sees Leonard enter the fourth floor landing, and he makes a beeline for her apartment.

"Amy's _pregnant_?" he asks, cell phone in hand. Penny can't help but notice how he stays in the doorway, still not crossing the invisible boundary line.

"Bernadette's engaged?" she counters. "Though you already knew that - guess I'm the only one out of the loop there."

Leonard falters.

"I, uh, I thought Bernadette should be the one-"

"She did. But she shouldn't have had to. I'm the one who introduced them! When Howard wanted a second chance, _I_ got Bernadette to meet with him at the restaurant! And now everyone else got to be there for the proposal, except for me!"

"Didn't you also eavesdrop on their conversation and charge them for food they didn't order?"

"That is so not the point!"

"So what is your point?" Penny's pretty sure he knows, and he's waiting for her to say it.

_I miss you. I miss everyone. Priya shouldn't be forcing this on you. I think I made a mistake._

But Leonard's been happy recently. She can tell, even if she doesn't understand it. And the last thing she wants right now is to be another source of hardship and heartache for him.

"It's nothing, forget it," she says, deflating.

Leonard cautiously takes a few steps into her apartment.

"Are you sure?"

When they were dating he would have pressed harder for an answer. Hell, before they were dating he would have done the same thing. But after - everything was different after.

"I'm sure." She puts on what she hopes is a convincing smile. "Hey, just let me know if you get anything out of Sheldon. I don't think the world is ready for a second Cooper genius."

Leonard shudders.

"Definitely not. Anyway, guess I'll see you… around."

"Yeah, see you around."

She waits until he's inside his apartment before walking to close the door to her own.


End file.
